Signing Tennessee Anti-Evolution Bill Into Law Would Be ‘Dumb’

Signing Tennessee Anti-Evolution Bill Into Law Would Be ‘Dumb’

Among its more dubious claims to fame, Tennessee was the site of the 1925 “Monkey Trial,” in which John Scopes was convicted of violating a state law against teaching that “man has descended from a lower order of animals.” Eighty-seven years later, the Tennessee Legislature is itching for an encore. It has sent to Gov. Bill Haslam a bill governing the teaching of “scientific subjects that may cause debate and disputation,” including evolution and global warming. [A number of media outlets, including Huffington Post, are reporting that Haslam is likely to sign it.] The legislation says teachers cannot be prohibited from “helping students understand, analyze, critique and review in an objective manner the scientific strengths and scientific weaknesses of existing scientific theories.”